7/15/2010

Trafficking in women from the Soviet Union has exploded since 1989, with their percentage in the international sex market matching or overtaking previous sources of supply in Asia and Latin America," (Global Survival Network, Christina Ling "Rights Activists Rap Ex-Soviet States on Sex-Trade," Reuters, 6 November 1997)

Criminal groups make an estimated $7 billion annually by trafficking in women from Russian and other former Soviet Republics (Gillian Caldwell, Global Survival Network, Reuters, 6 November 1997)

Eastern European women are sold like slaves in Israel among Russian mafia operators for £6,000 (US$10,000) to £9,000 (US$15,000). (Detective Toni Haddad of Haifa vice squad, Kevin Connolly "How Russia’s mafia is taking over Israel’s underworld." BBC, 3 April 1998)

Eight women from Russia between the ages of 18 and 33 have been arrested in Kota-Kinibalu, on the island of Borneo, Malaysia. Local police said the women had been detained on charges of prostitution. They were taken to custody after a raid conducted at a hotel. Three men from Malaysia suspected of hiring the women have also been arrested. Other Russian women incriminated in prostitution have been expelled from the country. ("Eight prostitutes from Russia arrested in Malaysia," ITAR/TASS, 16 August 1998)

4,500 women and children were detained at the Russian border for trying to leave illegally in 1996. Trafficking represents a threat to Russian national security because there is currently a negative birth rate amongst Russians. (Victor Ilukhin, Chairman of the State Security Committee of the Russian Duma, Parliamentary Hearings, Russian State Duma, 9-10 October 1997, Personal Communication with Kristen Hansen, CEELI attorney in Russia)

Posing as employment and travel agencies, criminal gangs promise women jobs as waitresses and barmaids overseas, but then treat them as slaves, forcing them to work as prostitutes to pay off thousand-dollar debts for their travel. Victims, typically young beautiful russian women, aged between 16 and 35, are often raped and beaten, have their passports confiscated and are threatened with harm to themselves and their families if they try to break their "contracts" or seek help. (Christina Ling, "Rights Activists Rap Ex-Soviet States on Sex-Trade" Reuters, 6 November 1997)

Russian recruiters, thought to be associated with the mafia, trafficked pregnant Russian women into the United States to adoption agencies who paid the recruiters US$15,000 for each woman. One such agency, the Special Delivery, placed 9 Russian babies with families last year. ("INS Probes Adoption Agencies Bringing Pregnant Russians to US," Associated Press, 16 April 1998)

Russian criminals are operating hundreds of brothels and striptease bars in Europe and Asia and are expanding. Bar and casino operators offer young Russian, Ukrainan and Baltic women high salaries to work in their clubs, but the women end up in near-slavery, unable to return home. Criminal groups are getting stronger and using Russia as a base for global ventures, including prostitution, drugs, currency exchange, and stealing World Bank and IMF loans. (Barbara Starr, "Former Soviet Union a playground for organized crime: A gangster’s paradise," ABC News, 14 September 1998)

25 distinct Russian organized crime groups are operating in the United States in the areas of prostitution, fraud, money laundering, murder, extortion and drug trafficking and the Federal Bureau of Investigation has approximately 250 pending investigations targeting Russian gangs in 27 states. (Barbara Starr, "Former Soviet Union a playground for organized crime: A gangster’s paradise," ABC News, 14 September 1998)

Young Russian and Ukranian women are the most valuable commodities in the sex trade. (Michael Specter, "Traffickers’ New Cargo: Naive Slavic Women," New York Times, 11 January 1998)